Luang Prabang Part 2
Monday—Friday January 20—24, 2014
A place in Luang Prabang—say, a temple—can have different spellings. Our next stop was at Wat Sensoukaram. It also goes by Wat Sen and Wat Sene.
On the map below, Wat Xieng Thong is shown. Wat Sene (on this map) is at the lower left. Zoom in to see the wats.
Information on the temple in English is not extensive. In Footprints Focus Laos, by C. Boobbyer, the temple was built in the style of Thailand in 1718. “The interior is delicate and refined,” says Ms Boobbyer. The exterior has two guard dogs. Behind them, some of the interior detail in red and gold.
The temple also had this unusual vehicle on display.
Moving on, we had a good vantage point of one of three seasonal wooden bridges over the Nam Khan River. It is for pedestrians only, and a toll must be paid. These bridges are not shown on the map.
Last temple for now! This is the watermelon stupa, built about 1504, at Wat Wisunarat.
Our next destination was the center of the newer section of the city. This is the traffic circle on Kitsalat Road.
This is a good place to note that Luang Prabang is quite peaceful. Very seldom was a horn honked while we were there. The traffic moves at a slow pace; getting across at an intersection was not difficult.
The next day, we headed back towards the National Museum/Royal Palace to climb up Mount Phousi (across the street from the museum). There is, of course, a temple on the top of the hill—it is white with a golden roof.
To get to the shrine at the top, two staircases have to be climbed. The total number of steps is about 350.
Not far up the first staircase is another temple. For offerings to the Buddha, there are orange flowers for sale, and two little birds in a woven basket.
At the summit, we could see a vehicle ferry crossing the Mekong River. Most of Luang Prabang is in the other direction, but the sun angle and fog made the photographs uninteresting.
A tourist had purchased one of the bird cages. The practice is to open up just enough space so they fly out to their freedom.
Our decent was on the other side of the hill, back down towards the Nam Khan River.
Here is another vendor of orange flowers and caged birds.
The descent was more interesting than the climb. We came across a lot of statues of the Buddha. Here is Thursday’s Buddha.
Here is a man fishing in the Nam Khan.
This is a view back up Mount Phousi at the peak and That Chomsi’s golden stupa.
Out next stop was the small but well done Traditional Art & Ethnology Center. We then had lunch by the National Museum and the start of our walk up Mount Phousi. Below is a view of one of the streets in that neighborhood.
In the afternoon, we decided to take the ferry across the Mekong.
After disembarking, we came across a small temple. There is a drum suspended in the middle of the photo, and a young monk is nearby.
We walked around a bit, and then headed back to the ferry. We passed this boat mid–river.
Our fellow ferry passengers are ready to get off at Luang Prabang.
We took a tuk tuk back to our hotel. Here is our view, looking forward.
We walked up Mount Phousi and visited another few temples in our last two days in Luang Prabang.
Next—Yangon, Myanmar via Bangkok Suvanabhumbi.